Keeping the Faith: Murdoch Buys Beliefnet

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has purchased Beliefnet.com, a leading website devoted to spirituality and religion, according to Media Bistro's FishbowlNY blog.

FishbowlNY said it was pursuing an anonymous tip when a Fox spokesperson called to ask that the news be embargoed until Tuesday morning. Fishbowl appears to have refused. When the blog offered the flack a chance to deny the story, the response was "Okay, we're not going to comment."

Per FishbowlNY:

Beliefnet.com, which boasts over 3.1 million unique visitors a month, won the General Excellence Online Ellie in 2007 this past May, beating out Slate and ESPN.com. On November 12, they launched a beta social networking portal aimed at religious devotees, spiritual leaders, and faith-based groups.

Financial terms of the deal were unavailable as of 7 p.m. Monday evening.

The Beliefnet purchase will be announced one day after a British tabloid claimed that News Corp. was in $1 billion acquisition talks with business social network LinkedIn, without citing any sources. Reuters' Ken Li shot down that report.

by Sam Gustin